Anna, Josh thought, was not nearly as contrite about the whole thing as she should have been.

“Look, I saw an opportunity and I took it,” she said, tone defensive. She leaned back in her chair, watching him work. “That muckball was just waiting for the chance to spring his little trap on you. Sometimes you gotta spring it early.”

Josh sighed as he used his [Scavenge] technique. He deconstructed the ruined wall into useful components. Building materials were cheap enough that it was largely unnecessary. It was more to get the place cleaned up a little.

“I get you,” he said patiently. “Especially with the level difference. But he was clearly leading up to something. He wanted to talk. If someone is shooting their gob, you don't shoot them in the gob!”

Anna rolled her eyes. “You sound like my mother.”

“Your mom gave strange advice, then,” Ruth said. She walked back in, carrying lumber over her shoulder. She had been putting most of her points into Strength, so she could carry quite a load. Josh wasn't sure if she was showing off or if she just really enjoyed using her new strength. He was leaning towards the latter.

“Look, they're gone.” Anna waved her hand in the direction of the hole. “That quiet lady with the big spear put out a BOLO and all that, so the whole town is looking for them. We're reinforcing the walls. We can keep them out pretty easily. No one in town is going to try to bring you in, even if they do figure out the Crafter thing. We've got some rebellious types here, though nothing to worry about.”

Josh was far past worrying about that, but he supposed he should be worrying about that. Taking over the citystone didn't render him immune to attack. Especially since he hadn't really done anything with it yet. He needed to be leveraging his advantages more.

“All right,” he said at last. “That's where we need to start.”

Anna and Ruth both stared at him. He resisted the urge to shift from foot to foot. He was glad Mary and Darius were gone for the moment, or it would be even worse.

“Did I miss part of the conversation?” Ruth asked Anna. “What's he talking about?”

Anna shrugged. “Beats me.” Then she grinned. “Maybe he wants to go on a hunt for rebels?”

“No, sorry.” Josh waved his hand as if to brush the conversation away. “Got ahead of myself, yeah? Ruth, we need to upgrade the citystone. Do you know how much longer it will take to reach the right mana threshold?”

“I'll check again, but it shouldn't be more than a few days.”

“Good.” He nodded. “We'll be prepared this time, but I still want that boost as soon as possible. Anna, have monsters ever crawled out of the pit?”

“No,” she said, frowning. “Beasties only attack from ground level.”

“Perfect. I want a map of all the nearby monster nests, and the directions you think hordes might come from.” He cast a quick [Instant Crafting] on the materials that Ruth had brought, and part of the wall rebuilt itself. It didn't quite match the old wall, but it would do. “I'm sure that Darius or Baara will have something.”

A slow, manic grin spread over her face. “I don't know what you're planning, but I am here for it!”

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“Think that's my cue to smack someone upside the head,” Mary said as she stepped into the room. She looked between Josh and Anna, then turned to Ruth. “Oi, what are these two idiots planning?”

Ruth kept her eyes on Josh. She wasn't smiling. “Josh wants me to upgrade the citystone. He's trying to prepare for a horde.”

Mary let out a breath. “Okay, shouldn't be as much of a muck pile as it was last time. Doubt we'll have another angry Tamer riling up the wildlife.” She narrowed her eyes. “But if you're just going to try the same thing again, you're daft.”

“I thought we were going to go down into the pit and finish off the rest of the monsters in the tunnels!” Ruth added. “And then we're going to clear out the dungeon and get the advancement materials and—”

“Ruth, take a breath,” Josh advised. “Like you said, we got at least a few days. I'm not trying to give you a twist, just planning ahead.”

“That is a wonderful change of pace,” Darius said, coming in behind Mary. “Apologies if I missed the explanation, what is your new plan?”

Josh nodded. “I was waiting for the whole group,” he lied. Actually, he had just let his thoughts run ahead of his mouth, and forgotten that not everyone knew the full capabilities of citystones. He wasn't going to admit that he had lost the plot, though. Best to just continue on. “So, like Ruth said: Clear out the horde in the tunnels, clear out the dungeon, get advance mats.” He blinked, then snapped his fingers and pointed at Darius. “Does the town have any stored right now?”

“No,” Beor said from the corner of the room.

Everyone jumped.

“How long you been sitting there?” Josh demanded.

Beor thought for a moment. “...when did the wall break?”

Josh took a breath. “At the end of the fight.”

“There was a fight?”

Josh gave a quick recap of the events that had happened with Hou Zheng and Kun. Beor nodded along.

“Trouble,” he said. “They were trouble, they will be trouble.”

“Thank you!” Anna said, throwing up her arms.

Beor ignored her. He turned to Josh. “There are no advancement materials in the vaults. The old mayor used them whenever we got them.” He shrugged. “Besides. Didn't get many of them. Not many people closed dungeons.”

“Yeah...” Anna said, her eyes distant and her tone wistful. “That guy was a jackass parasite, but he knew not to kill your chickens unless they turn into monsters. He had strict rules on not breaking dungeons unless you had to.” She made a face. “He exiled one of my best hunters for that, actually. Maybe I should go looking for him...”

“That's something for later,” Josh said firmly. He used another cast of [Instant Crafting]. The wall was halfway done. “Let's jump back on track. We need the citystone upgraded as soon as possible, because once it is, it gets slots for abilities.”

“Oh, yeah,” Ruth said, nodding. “We used it for that buff back in Gilroy.”

“A buff for the whole town isn't a bad idea.” Despite her words, Anna didn't actually look all that interested. “Of course, that won't apply to the hunters out in the fields. Probably won't even get the delvers in the pit.” Then she frowned at the wall.

Josh grinned. She was getting close to seeing it, he could tell.

“I wouldn't say no,” Ruth added. “I just don't see why it's suddenly such a high priority?”

“Breads and circuses, yeah?” Mary suggested. “Choose the right buff, that's a hefty quality of life boost for everyone in town. More than the previous mayor managed.”

“That's one option,” Josh admitted. He cast [Instant Crafting] again.

Anna jumped out of her chair. “Shut the front door.”

Josh grinned.

She pointed at him, or the wall, or maybe at his spell. “Can you slot that into a citystone?”

There was silence for a moment. Then Mary started laughing.

Darius put his face in his hand. “I can't believe I forgot about that.”